Each year VersionOne conducts a survey to assess the state of the agile community, highlight emerging trends, and provide insights on practices and techniques that are proving successful. I observed an interesting and alarming trend within the 2015 survey data. Many in the agile community have commented that they frequently are asked to evaluate the effectiveness of agile methods, which leads to questions about how do we measure success. According to VersionOne’s 2015 survey data, the most frequently tracked agile metric to determine success on a daily basis is “Velocity” - Jim Benson (author of “Personal Kanban”) has referred to velocity as “an imaginary number divided by an arbitrary amount of work” - it is a very imprecise metric due to the high variability and non-scientific origin of the data used to compute it. I hypothesize that many of the questions surrounding the effectiveness of agile methods result from focusing too much on the use of imprecise metrics, such as velocity, to measure progress and determine success. Additionally, VersionOne’s survey data from 2015 reveals that metrics based upon precise quantitative process or business data (such as: cycle time, customer retention, revenue/sales impact and product utilization) are used less frequently on agile projects, despite the fact that they all can be measured. Join us for a discussion to explore the hypothesis that many are questioning the effectiveness of agile methods because too frequently imprecise metrics are used to determine success. Using VersionOne’s survey data, we’ll talk about the importance and potential benefit of shifting to use the metrics that offer greater precision near the bottom of VersionOne’s list to determine success, offer guidance on how to track them, and how to interpret trends observed to make informed decisions. All participants attending will receive a worksheet that highlights the discussed metrics with insights for how to interpret trends observed. The following clip from a July 2015 episode of ThisAgileLife establishes the hypothesis and context for this presentation: https://youtu.be/TmiJQkQMlas

Outline/structure of the Session

This is a brand new talk based upon a newly formed hypothesis triggered by reviewing the 2015 VersionOne State of Agile survey data. I’ll present data from agile transformation activities where measurement activities were focused on the less frequently used metrics from the annual survey (such as: earned value, revenue/sales, product utilization, cycle time and cumulative flow), and when these metrics were used to determine success, there were no questions to the benefit provided by transforming to agile methods.

We will present the hypothesis that many question the effectiveness of agile methods as imprecise metrics are used too frequently to determine success. We’ll talk through recommended metrics that offer greater precision, show examples of how to track each metric and interpret observed trends, and suggest ways to gather necessary data. The workshop will conclude with a call to action for participants to explore the hypothesis that if we increase efforts to use more precise metrics to determine success, there will be a decrease in the frequency that the effectiveness of agile methods comes into question.

A worksheet summarizing the metrics presented and insights on how to best use them will be provided to all participants.

Richard Cheng - Situational Retrospectives – One size does not fit all

schedule 2 years ago

45 Mins

Workshop

Intermediate

Situation A: Your team is great. You’ve met all your sprint goals and your Product Owner is pleased with the results to date. Yeah!

Situation B: Your team sucked. Zero story points completed last sprint. Team members are complaining and blaming each other for the failures.

These two situations demand two very different retrospectives. The right retrospective can make a good team great and turn a bad situation into a learning opportunity. A bad retrospective can set a team back and create a non-safe working environment.

In this session, attendees will explorer retrospectives techniques and examine the pros and cons of the techniques. The workshop will then explore scenarios and examine how to effectively run retrospectives across a variety of scenarios.

Coming out of this sessions, attendees will have an understanding of applying the right retrospectives based on the state and needs of the team and projects.

schedule 2 years ago

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

You probably started your Agile journey with Scrum, which helped. But regression testing still takes forever. New feature tests aren't what they could be and are hard to complete within the Sprint.

If you have active product owners, the POs helped to improve your product, but there is still a disconnect, between the user story and the tests. And how do you test "as a, I want, so that"?

Now you hear you need Agile technical practices to keep improving and you find you need to automate. What are you going to do with your testers? They really, really know your business, but they don't code.

If you are a manager, a tester or a product owner, come hear Camille as she shares her experience successfully teaching manual testers Automated Test Driven Development and showing product owners how to write great Acceptance Criteria that are easy to automate.

In this session you will learn:

How to get your product owners, testers and developers to understand each other

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

Are you overwhelmed and/or confused as to which metrics can reveal insights to make fact-based decisions to properly manage your agile software development portfolio. Join us for a the story of a journey, where we will use the metaphor of “going on a road trip” to explain and demonstrate simple yet effective metrics for agile portfolio management. As we go on our road trip, we’ll highlight the importance of defining and then using quantitative “roll-up” metrics to enable leadership to make informed strategic decisions without slowing delivery team activities while at the same time providing a foundation for team self-management and autonomy. We’ll use the road-trip metaphor to depict the challenges that teams and organizations encounter attempting to manage their portfolio without effective portfolio metrics defined. Think about what driving on a road trip would be like if your car didn’t have a check-engine light or a gas gauge, sound risky??? The good news is: it doesn’t have to be that way, and believe it or not, if you have measurements at the team level creating actionable portfolio-metrics is easier than you think. As we recommend simple portfolio-level metrics to guide our road trip, we’ll define them, share how to interpret them, discuss the insights they provide, and offer guidance on how to gather or aggregate them from team execution data. We will also touch on why and how the use of an easy to understand metaphor has aided significantly in creating and sustaining engagement amongst stakeholders for portfolio inception and governance activities. Participants will leave having learned how to successfully navigate their next enterprise-wide initiative using quantitative data to promote alignment, maximize return on investment, foster engagement and reduce risk - everyone attending will receive a printed guide (worksheet) summarizing recommended metrics for agile portfolio management discussed.

Matthieu Cornillon - The Myth of Fixed Scope: Why Goals Matter

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

How many times have you heard someone say that scope is fixed and then throw a tantrum when they hear how long it will take to build? How many times have you seen the spirited creativity of development teams evaporate when a stakeholder tells them the deliverable cannot be changed at all? And how many times have you discussed agility with naysayers who say, "That's all fine in an ideal world when you are building some hip little application, but we're in the real world with real projects with fixed scope."

This presentation explores the myth of fixed scope, how damaging the notion is, and the tool we all have at our disposal for escaping the trap. Come explore how natural it is to use it, and yet how vigilant we need to be to keep ourselves from casting it aside.

Steve Ropa - DevOps is a Technical Problem AND a People Problem

schedule 2 years ago

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45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

Gerry Weinberg once said of consulting “There is always a problem, and it’s always a people problem.” The world of DevOps is emerging rapidly, and just like the early days of Agile, is still working on refining exactly what DevOps means. So often, the focus is either on the technical aspects of the various tool, or on the people problem of “bringing Ops into the room”. But what is the problem that DevOps addresses, and is that problem more of a technical problem, or a people problem? We will explore this, and look at the possible intersection between the two “problems” and how a DevOps approach can help overcome them.

Phillip Manketo - Unlock the Power of Agile in Your Organization

schedule 2 years ago

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45 Mins

Talk

Beginner

“More and more organizations are realizing the benefits of running projects using Scrum, XP, and/or Kanban at the individual team level. Unfortunately, the typically means that in a 12-24 business idea to production time-frame, the “Agile” part may only be a 1-3 month “construction” phase with rigid controls in place that all but eliminate most of the benefit of Agile. The root cause of this issue is that the whole organization is purpose-built to support and reinforce traditional methodologies while unintentionally impeding and discouraging the use of Agile methodologies. This is reflected in the organizational structure, physical location of people, the physical workplace, policies, procedures, governance, SDLC, contracts, vendors, belief systems, compensation, software tools, funding model, metrics, and more. A common belief is that all of these are set in stone and that Agile will need to fit in to this existing framework. As a result, many Agile adoptions eventually regress as the effort of working around the existing framework overwhelms the enthusiasm of the Agile evangelists. Unlocking the full power of Agile requires an understanding that changing the status quo is a long-term, organization-wide, major initiative that will take significant resources to accomplish. Such an initiative will only be undertaken if the rewards are significantly greater than the cost. In this session, you will learn about the true barriers to Agile adoption; the surprising and significant financial benefits of organization-wide Agile transformation; and the Kotter Change Model, an approach for implementing major change management efforts.”

Chris Li - The Tadpole Technique - Breaking things down in a new, interactive way

schedule 2 years ago

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45 Mins

Workshop

Beginner

The Tadpole Technique is an approach that teams can use to break a larger idea into smaller pieces in an interactive and visual way. This facilitated session is a way to get team members to participate in some chatter as well as as generate a few takeaways from the session. This technique is useful in meetings where a group of approximately ten individuals and a facilitator go through a series of discussions following a brief writing activity. The result is a visual representation of the teams thoughts and discussion, and can be used to further expand later talks or to create some takeaways.

This talk will explain the mechanics of this technique, what teams will need, and explain how to facilitate the session. Participants will then engage in an exercise where they get to experience the technique as a group, enhancing their ability to facilitate future sessions of their own.

Matt Phillips - Avoiding the 2-week waterfall: Common Scrum pitfalls and how to tackle them

schedule 2 years ago

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45 Mins

Talk

Beginner

Often when organizations go through an Agile transformation, there are some concepts that are challenging to address or adopt. We have a tendency to avoid the ‘crucial conversation’ so as not to hinder progress. Eventually these fundamentals can get overlooked or "put on the back burner". At this point transformations stall, and we find that our process is operating more like a 2 week waterfall than an Product-Increment-Producing-Machine-of-Wonder. I believe this behavior is one of the drivers for the ‘scrum-but’ concept.

This session will delve into anti-patterns, bad smells, and other pitfalls which are keeping organizations from reaching the next level of Agile adoption. We’ll examine common warning signs and identify strong signals that indicate that a sprint time box is not being optimized. Once we’ve identified the challenges, we’ll explore best-practices, tweaks, and courageous actions to get teams collaborating in a first-class manner.

Awais Sheikh - Agile Paradoxes: Extensions or Contradictions?

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Workshop

Intermediate

As we see Agile evolving through the years, particularly into the government space, a lot of terminology is used that seems foreign to many who first used agile with their individual teams. "Hybrid Scrum"..."Delegate Product Owner"...even "Scaled Agile". Are these simply extensions of the agile values and principles in the manifesto to fit a different and more complex environment, or do they represent a diluting of those same values and principles? Explore in a facilitated workshop with your peers whether such terms are appropriate (maybe even necessary) to adopt agile in the complicated enterprise, or whether they represent (oxy)moronic agile and a step backward.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Advanced

Gain insights and learn real-world strategies and techniques for leading an enterprise or divisional Agile transformation. Based on current experiences driving Fannie Mae's enterprise Agile transformation, and drawing upon years of experience leading Agile transformations in multiple divisions at Capital One, Mr. Richardson will share proven methods and approaches for leading a successful Agile transformation. This session is aimed at senior leaders, executives, and management.

Via a dynamic presentation and lively participant dialog, we will cover in depth topics such as:

Assessing your organization's strengths and opportunities re: Agile adoption at all levels in the organization

Key elements of a successful Agile transformation plan & execution of that plan

Theresa Smith - Product Design with Intent: How to Drive Product Design in an Agile Project

schedule 2 years ago

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45 Mins

Talk

Beginner

When design is based on random choices, the end product is an assembly of random elements that have little or nothing in common. But when design forces all elements to work together then it makes a single, powerful, and meaningful impression to the user. While agile can get the job done faster, it doesn’t help guide design choices for a software product.

This session presents a design driven approach called Strong Center Design that incorporates design into an agile workflow.

If you have an interest in improving design of your software products, then this is the session for you.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Demonstration

Beginner

DevOps as a buzzword is gaining traction, but what does it really mean? Managers, non-techies, and developers-new-to-devops will get a guided demo of development automation. See all the cool tools in action - continuous integration, automated testing, cloud deployment, etc. More importantly, we'll walk through what they do, and why that adds value to a project.

This talk will...

Break down the buzzwords and define some key technical practices in plain english.

Uncover the pain that leads teams to seek greater automation.

Demonstrate a continuous integration pipeline working in practice via live demo.

Diminish the knowledge gap between technical practitioners and managers/analysts/coaches.

Level-up the vocabulary of non-technical attendees.

Introduce practices to developers who don't yet work in an automated environment.

Spark "ah-ha" moments to convert skeptics into DevOps believers!

By the way, all of the tools in the demo are some combination of free and/or open source. DevOps doesn't have to cost a lot.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Workshop

Beginner

When many of us hear "Lean" we think of Kanban, but it's clearly more than that. In this session, I'll go beyond the Kanban and explore Lean's seven wastes, defining each one and providing concrete examples. Then, we'll conduct a "Lean Up" activity to help you ferret out wastes that you can take back and apply in your own Agile shop.

Martin Folkoff - Testing with Teamwork

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

“Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…” -- Vince Lombardi

Large enterprise scale software development is a team sport. In order to win in this game your software needs to be of the highest quality, which is almost impossible to achieve with testers on the sidelines. To build a winning a team you need the right players, but great teams don't always need the best players. Great teams win because they find ways to let the individuals on their team be great.

The wave of DevOps in the industry is in a broader sense an effort to let developers and system engineers do what they do best by eliminating or simplifying tasks that forced individuals into activities beyond their expertise. Pre-DevOps roles were like trying to ask Payton Manning to play both quarterback and running back at the same time. DevOps is the manifestation of empathy between two distinct sets of skills allowing the other to focus on what their best at. What about testers? How can the team expand their empathy to their role? What can the developers, program managers, and others do to let testers be great? Please join me if your curious to hear about the practices, tools, and culture that can make your software a winner with quality.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Workshop

Intermediate

All Not for Profits aspire to be effective, nimble, and fun all while changing the world. Agile mindsets and practices can help all nonprofit organizations use technology agile concepts skillfully and confidently to meet community needs and fulfill their missions.

Successfully implementing and fully adopting agile can be seen as unnecessary overhead. Creating an Agile community and toolbox for Not for Profits would greatly reduce the organization change costs and allow not for profits to benefit faster. This community would facilitate the exchange of knowledge and information within the agile community and within the Not for Profit sector. It would connect members to each other, provide professional development opportunities, educate our constituency on issues of technology use in nonprofits, and spearhead groundbreaking research, advocacy, and education on technology issues affecting our entire community.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Workshop

Intermediate

Delivery teams know from experience the importance of maintenance such as applying patches, upgrading, and conforming to the latest security and accessibility regulations. Product Owners, other value team members, and system stakeholders are focused on functionality and end user satisfaction. Maintenance isn’t sexy and can sink in priority until it fails to be included in releases.

The Security community has been using Dark/Abuser/Evil Stories using the persona of a Black Hat Hacker to uncover vulnerabilities. In this workshop participants will assume the role of Delivery Team members and use the power of personas to write “Dark Stories” that bring to life the full impact of failing to perform necessary maintenance. The intent is to give Product Owners a complete understanding of the importance of maintenance so they can appropriately prioritize maintenance and keep their systems strong.

schedule 2 years ago

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

“The user interface is limited – most of the work is on the back end.”

“My customer has a mission to execute, they cannot be here every day.”

Like in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, being close in Agile has great value. We need not abandon our brethren in the trenches just because some of the most recognizable practices are out of play. The great principles of Agile help in even the most difficult environments. Shipping great software while under some traditional constraints is a true test of the movement – and we have a track record of doing just that. We have employed Stealth Agile, Green Box Agile, Cafeteria Agile, Agile Pathfinding, and even Agile Treason in order to deliver in less than ideal circumstances.

A series of actual scenarios will reveal the adaptations to Agile practices that kept us close to principles. A small set of practices are present in so many of our projects that we consider them to be part of our Agile core. Sometimes we rename them, sometimes we feather them, sometimes we disguise them, but they are always present and are pivotal to success. Chief among these are the various practices that enable and encourage rapid feedback at multiple levels including Customer, Product, System, and Development.

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

Teal is a natural extension of the Agile mindset, but who would have thought flattening the hierarchy could be this difficult! If Agile removes impediments and empowers teams to deliver more frequently and more valuable offerings, teal removes organizational impediments (hierarchy built on lack of trust ) and fosters empowerment by localizing decision making, re-centering activities around an evolutionary purpose, and aligning the personal with the organizational (wholeness). But what actually happens when you put rubber to road and empower teams to recruit, hire, fire, and determine each other’s bonuses? Well, things get a little messy. If you’re patient, set aside short-term outcomes, and look to long-term gain, it can prove deeply rewarding. I’ll take you on our own evolutionary journey from green to teal and share with you lessons learned along the way.

If you’re curious about alternative management styles or interested in the next extension of Agile, then come sit, chat, and reflect.

Dave Nicolette - Shit Agile Coaches Say

schedule 2 years ago

Sold Out!

45 Mins

Talk

Intermediate

"Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes." - Desmond Tutu

The agile community has evolved into a group of highly enthusiastic proponents who bring a high level of excitement to everything they say and do. Agilists speak a strange sort of insider jargon in which plain English words have very unusual, and often counterintuitive meanings.

They may describe your multi-billion-dollar enterprise as "dysfunctional" and on the verge of "failure." They may suggest your teams "sprint" to get work done, and yet do so at a "sustainable pace." They may tell your management that agile helps teams "go faster" while assuring your teams that agile isn't about "going faster." They may insist that agile is more about culture and mindset than about practices, and then measure your progress in terms of how faithfully you follow a prescribed set of practices.

There are many more examples of this odd insider jargon, starting with the seminal buzzword itself, "agile." Over the years, the way agilists speak has confused and turned off many who might otherwise have benefited from applying agile values and principles. The presenter will share several stories of the unintended effects of agile-speak, and will invite you to share your own tales of woe and amusement.